Raucous Dinner Parties, Oh how I miss you! And other musings…

Oh how I miss entertaining!  Especially after having recently returned from Norfolk, Virginia, our previous hometown and site of our parties of old. Formal dinner parties have never been our style in the AfroMartha household.  We love just having a random group of people over, add some good food, some off-the-beaten-path music, and Voila! you’ve got a night of interesting conversation and a great time had by all.  Man, our get-togethers used to last till 2, 3, and sometimes 4 in the morning.

Ever since we moved to the Midwest, though, we have not been able to make those same kind of connections. I’m sure part of the blame has to lie with us, but boy it’s been tough! Maybe it’s because we’re a little old to be starting over. After all, those connections we had in VA were made mostly when we were young and childless. Out here in the Midwest it just seems that most of the folks we encounter already have their own social networks and aren’t interested in adding new people. When someone does happen to come by, we tend to hold them hostage long past when they intended to leave.  Hmmm…I wonder if that’s why they don’t come more often?

It’s not that we haven’t made any friends at all. I made one good friend and several acquaintances. Poor Mr. AfroMartha has made mostly out-of-town acquaintances due to his traveling for Capoeira.  This has to be tough for him because he’s such a social butterfly. We haven’t made any ‘couple’ friends, and definitely no ‘raucous dinner party’ type friends. Most of the people we meet generally tend to not be interested in doing out-the-ordinary things, like Brazilian music, or Afrobeat, or long evenings of stimulating philosophical discussions. Salt of the earth people though.

Well, I miss it.  I crave it.  Even my cooking has gone downhill since I have no one to entertain. I don’t bake like I used to or try new dishes like I used to.
I must find some people.  I know they are out there…they have to be. I resolve to extend myself and really go out of my way to meet some people. Got suggestions? Let’s hear it!

On a brighter Note…

Today was a very productive day. Operation Purge and Declutter had a banner day. I finally got rid of my stash of bottles and jars from my Taiwosoaps days.  I had tried to sell them on Ebay and Craigslist, but got nowhere.  The thought crossed my mind to just drop them off at Goodwill or even the recycling plant.  That just made me sad because I wanted them to go to someone who would use them.  Who better than a fellow soapmaker?! A quick google search turned up Tanya Brown of Living Simply Soaps less than 5 miles from me! She was so happy to receive my offerings that she gave me a few bars of her absolutely delectable soaps.  Good thing too, because we were running out of soap and I was thinking of making some with the rest of my stash.  Now I can wait a couple of weeks.  Check out her store, you won’t be disappointed! It felt great to bless someone with supplies in the same way I was blessed when I first started out oh-so-long ago. In return, I get a clearer cleaner space in my home.

After dropping the containers of, I got to work on the pile of children’s clothes that needed to be taken to Goodwill.  I got those sorted and dropped off as well!

Phew, all that decluttering got me so wiped, I decided to take a quick nap.  Well, the joke was on me, because guess what I came down to after my nap?  I left the 3 musketeers to make some art to occupy themselves, and this is what happened:

Good thing I had thought to put down the plastic table cloth on the table, and aprons on each of them… The little one, aka Prince Ruckus used so much paint I couldn’t pull off his paper without tearing it. Very nice work they did though, I must say.

This one’s my personal favorite though… it’s Fire!

And here’s The Princess with her “Well, I didn’t do it” Stance.

At least the cleanup was easy. They had fun and it bought me a few winks. Plus they didn’t burn the house down, which is always good a good thing.